The Next Draft: Stone Cow Brewery, Buck’s Whiskey and Burger Bar team up to recycle plastic craft beer holders

Thursday

Jun 27, 2019 at 3:00 AMJun 28, 2019 at 5:24 PM

At first, I rationalized my hoarding of plastic craft beer holders as a convenient way to travel with cans.

Anyone who has purchased a four-pack or six-pack from a brewery knows what I’m talking about: Thicker and sturdier than typical plastic rings, the holders come in all colors and sometimes induce the wrath of beer drinkers who find themselves struggling to wrench their cans free.

If not recycled, they also tend to pile up. My own collection of the sturdy holders had grown to over two dozen. I used them to create to-go four-packs, mixing and matching beers from the endless supply filling up the top rack of my fridge

This lasted all of a summer.

Eventually, I forgot about the holders, which continued amassing on top of my fridge. Whenever I bought more beer, the number of holders grew, despite my efforts to recycle a few every now and then.

I feared the heap may spill over to a drawer, then another draw, then a bin, then — I don’t want to imagine where.

Thankfully, I’ve found an answer to getting rid of the holders in the form of a collaboration between Barre’s Stone Cow Brewery and Buck’s Whiskey and Burger Bar in Worcester. They have been collecting and reusing the holders, starting a grassroots movement that I hope more breweries embrace.

Along with hundreds of other people, I have unburdened myself by dropping off my irrational collection of can holders at Buck’s (https://www.bucksworcester.com), 61 Green St., where owner Nick Panarelli keeps them in boxes and 50-gallon trash bags for Stone Cow to pick up during keg deliveries.

“Let’s get more breweries to jump on, absolutely,” Panarelli said. “We’re not going to sit there and say we came up with the idea. There are thousands of bars, so if every bar did it and every brewery collected them, image how much it would save everybody, how many toppers you could reuse?”

The campaign has grown from a trickle of holders to thousands flooding in from people dropping them off at the brewery or restaurant. Stone Cow (https://www.stonecowbrewery.com/) has even started receiving boxes of the holders in the mail from across the state — one to two packages a week.

The call for holders has proven so effective that for the last three months Stone Cow has not ordered new ones, reducing its packing costs. The brewery’s latest canning run consisted of 8,000 cans of beer packaged entirely with the reclaimed holders.

Stone Cow co-owner Sean DuBois traces the start of the campaign back to a September Facebook post. “It’s no secret that people love their beer in cans … but how about we all help the planet together starting with these plastic can carriers?!?” DuBois wrote above a picture of his hand holding a four-pack holder.

DuBois thought the post would lead to a few people bringing in their holders. But then the post garnered more than 800 likes and 77 comments, including people with their own hoard of holders thanking the brewery.

“We didn’t think it would amount to much,” DuBois said. “We put the call out there, and people have really responded.”

Stone Cow received so many holders after the initial post that they had to set up a new operation to reuse them. During slow times at the bar, brewery staff will peel off stickers on donated holders, soak them in hot water with soap and sanitize them. After they’ll inspect the holders for breaks and recycle those with damaged tabs.

“There is a whole part of our storage area that’s dedicated to these can carriers,” DuBois said. “It’s a fun part of the microbrewery movement that we’re tapping into. People want to save the planet.”

DuBois encourages people to drop off their holders — any size or color — at the brewery, located at Carter & Stevens Farm, 500 West St., Barre. If you can’t get to the brewery, you can mail them to Stone Cow Brewery LLC, 500 (B) West Street, Barre, MA 01005.

Tis the season to drink outside

For me, there may be nothing better than enjoying a fine ale in the warm sun.

Charlton’s Tree House Brewing Co. is going further than a typical beer garden this month and next with three nights of brew, wine, food and music in Boston, atop the Prudential Center’s south garden.

The three remaining dates for “An Evening with Tree House” (https://www.treehousebrew.com/prudential) are June 27, July 18 and July 25. The event runs from 5 to 9 and brings a rotating selection of eight Tree House beers. Entrance is free, and beers cost $8.

Expect crowds. Tree House’s first evening in Boston, scheduled for June 13, was canceled due to rainy weather.

Moon Hill Brewing Co. in Gardner is again visiting Red Apple Farm in Phillipston this summer to open a Brew Barn (http://redapplefarm.com/home-page/the-farm/brew-barn). Moon Hill will be pouring eight of its beers, as well as an apple ale that it made with the farm.

The farm sets up tables outside its post-and-beam barn for guests to sit and enjoy their beer, while it serves up BBQ and ice cream.

Brew Barn hours are Fridays from 3 to 8 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 8 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 7 p.m. Fridays include free hot dogs and ice cream for kids with all BBQ purchases.

Oh, and free hayrides for everyone.

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